In an interview with Fanhouse, John Lucas says, "They trade all our guys away and we go real young, and the goal was to
get LeBron and also to sell the team,'' Lucas said in an interview with
FanHouse. "I didn't have a chance. ... You can't fault the Cavaliers for wanting to get LeBron. It was hard to get free agents to come there.''

Lucas' Cavs finished the 2002-2003 season with a record of 17-65, bad enough to snag the first overall pick in the draft, where they selected James.

It's a claim then-principal owner Gordon Gund strongly disputes.

Gund strongly denied in an interview with FanHouse the Cavaliers had a strategy to get James by losing games in 2002-03.

"You don't try to get the No. 1 pick,'' Gund said. "That's why the
lottery was designed. To not allow that. We had a young team that we
were developing. ... We did not tank the season. ... To lose to get
LeBron James, we would never do that. I wouldn't do that. I couldn't do
that."